Why Programs Fail: A Guide to Systematic Debugging Kindle Edition

by Andreas Zeller (Author)

6 customer reviews

Share <Embed>

Buy

$45.49

eBook features:

Highlight, take notes, and search in the book
Length: 480 pages

Available on these devices

Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC

includes VAT

Digital List Price: $61.60 Save $16.11 (26%)‎

Deliver to your Kindle or other device

Enter a promotion code or Gift Card

Price

New from

Used from

Kindle, October 11, 2005

"Please retry"

$45.49

—

Paperback

"Please retry"

—

$9.99

$3.00

Why Programs Fail is about bugs in computer programs, how to find them, how to reproduce them, and how to fix them in such a way that they do not occur anymore. This is the first comprehensive book on systematic debugging and covers a wide range of tools and techniques ranging from hands-on observation to fully automated diagnoses, and includes instructions for building automated debuggers. This discussion is built upon a solid theory of how failures occur, rather than relying on seat-of-the-pants techniques, which are of little help with large software systems or to those learning to program. The author, Andreas Zeller, is well known in the programming community for creating the GNU Data Display Debugger (DDD), a tool that visualizes the data structures of a program while it is running.

* Winner of a 2006 Jolt Productivity Award for Technical Books
* Shows how to reproduce software failures faithfully, how to isolate what is important about the failure, and to discover what caused it
* Describes how to fix the program in the best possible way, and shows how to create your own automated debugging tools
* Includes exercises and extensive references for further study, and a companion website with source code for all examples and additional debugging resources

Customers Who Viewed This Item Also Viewed

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.

Andreas Zeller

4

Kindle Edition
$51.16

Product Details

File Size: 6316 KB
Print Length: 480 pages
Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann; 1 edition (October 11, 2005)
Publication Date: October 11, 2005
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
Language: English
ASIN: B001V7U7BS
Text-to-Speech: Enabled

X-Ray:

Not Enabled

Word Wise: Not Enabled
Lending: Not Enabled
Enhanced Typesetting: Not Enabled

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,262,957 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #95 in Books > Computers & Technology > Programming > Languages & Tools > Debugging
- #7037 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Computers & Technology > Programming
- #515830 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction

Would you like to give feedback on images or tell us about a lower price?

Customer Reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars

5 star		67%
4 star		33%
3 star		0%
2 star		0%
1 star		0%

Write a customer review

See all verified purchase reviews

Top Customer Reviews

From the creator of the GNU Data Display Debugger (DDD)...

ByFernando Berzal Galianoon July 26, 2006

Format: Paperback

"Why programs fail" attempts to provide a systematic approach to finding, reproducing, and fixing programming errors, with a strong focus on the automation of many debugging techniques. Zeller covers the whole debugging process:

- Problem-tracking systems are discussed, not only as tools for tracking and managing problem reports, but also as valuable idea repositories and requirements management systems.

- You will also find advice on how to set up automated tests that support debugging tasks.

- Apparently straightforward, reproducing problems can be harder that it seems, as "heisenbugs" testify (i.e. when debugging tools interfere with the problem so that it disappears when it is being observed).

- Delta debugging, an interesting application of the classical divide-and-conquer strategy, provides an automated method to simplify test cases (and focus on the truly relevant part of the problem).

- Applying the scientific method is the right way to debug (i.e. reasoning about programs to create hypotheses and performing experiments to validate or discard those hypotheses). Here, the use of a debugging logbook helps to make debugging explicit by writing down all hypotheses and observations.

- Plenty of techniques for creating hypothesis and determining the failure cause of an observed problem are covered, from static analysis tools and introducing assertions, to experimental techniques that try to make debugging more efficient.

"Why programs fail" is outstanding. Many interesting (and practical) ideas are explored. If you would like to improve your detective skills, this book is highly recommended.

0Comment 15 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Elevate your Debugging

ByClaude E. Smooton August 25, 2008

Format: Paperback

Andreas Zeller created the GNU Data Display Debugger. That
fact set my expectations for this book. I was not
disappointed. Being a developer for over 15 years, I was
pleasantly surprised at the advances in debugging presented
in this book.

The great benefit of this book is that it uses the
scientific method to create a formal discipline for
debugging. This discipline can be automated in ways that
were unthought-of until recently. One example of this is
the DDCHANGE plug-in for Eclipse that automatically
identifies which of multiple code changes has introduced a
given bug.

I found no major faults in this book. The author's style
of writing is very enjoyable. The only thing I'd change is
to drop the second chapter as it contains material on defect
tracking that is covered elsewhere (unlike the rest of the
material where this book is pretty much the sole source of
information).

This is a fabulous book that any serious developer should
read.

0Comment 8 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Extremely thoughtful

ByALQon November 4, 2005

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

As a practionner I am delighted to see a systematic method applied to software. Too often is writing software compared to art or magic, while more often that not it is a matter of rigour, analysis and rational thinking (intuition does not hurt of course). The author attacks the problem of dealing with software defects with method and his analysis is sound. This book is a very welcome help to developers but can also help the quality assurance departement.

0Comment 6 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Lots of interesting ideas

ByPaul Floydon June 2, 2006

Format: Paperback

This book contains perhaps a bit too much general background. After all, there are already many shelfloads of books out there that cover things like design and project management.

Otherwise, there are lots of things that sound quite interesting. Plenty of references to real products (both commercial and freeware). Clearly the author has extensively researched the field (being one of the authors of DDD probably helped).

Delta debugging, parallel debugging and omniscient debugging all look very interesting. There seem to be more tools available for Java than for other languages. This is probably a reflection of the ease of debugging the JVM. As a C and C++ programmer, I was a bit envious of this situation.

0Comment 5 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Building Manageable Software

Bycoderon December 29, 2008

Format: Paperback

I think this should be the title of this book, because "Andreas Zeller" not only talking about dry methods of managing and debugging software code but he teaches how to draw a full picture of your software project "from the design till delivering fixes and updates", this book helps you solve future software problems by building software that is fixable and manageable. "Andreas Zeller" is a good text book writer he move by subject from the bottom up smoothly to support deep understand, so, I ask him to write a book about "Software Design Patterns and System Resources Management" using same way followed in writing his book and with cooperation with the Author of "Design Patterns" "Christopher G. Lasater" he is a good writer too.

0Comment One person found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Excellent

ByUrsachion May 6, 2007

Format: Paperback

This book is great for both software testing engineers and software developers. I definitely recommend it for anyone interested in the field of developing or testing softwares - being beginners, intermediate, advanced or experts in the field.

0Comment One person found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Set up an Amazon Giveaway

Amazon Giveaway allows you to run promotional giveaways in order to create buzz, reward your audience, and attract new followers and customers. Learn more about Amazon Giveaway

This item: Why Programs Fail: A Guide to Systematic Debugging

Set up a giveaway

Look for Similar Items by Category

Books > Computers & Technology > Programming
Books > Computers & Technology > Programming Languages > Debugging
Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Computers & Technology > Programming

Feedback

If you need help or have a question for Customer Service, contact us.

Would you like to report poor quality or formatting in this book? Click here

Would you like to report this content as inappropriate? Click here

Do you believe that this item violates a copyright? Click here

Amazon Drive Unlimited Cloud Storage From Amazon	6pm Score deals on fashion brands	AbeBooks Rare Books & Textbooks	ACX Audiobook Publishing Made Easy	Alexa Actionable Analytics for the Web	Amazon Business Everything For Your Business

AmazonFresh Groceries & More Right To Your Door	AmazonGlobal Ship Orders Internationally	Home Services Handpicked Pros Happiness Guarantee	Amazon Inspire Free Digital Educational Resources	Amazon Video Direct Video Distribution Made Easy	Amazon Web Services Scalable Cloud Computing Services

Audible Download Audio Books	BeautyBar.com Prestige Beauty Delivered	Book Depository Books With Free Delivery Worldwide	Casa.com Kitchen, Storage & Everything Home	ComiXology Thousands of Digital Comics	CreateSpace Indie Print Publishing Made Easy

Diapers.com Everything But The Baby	DPReview Digital Photography	East Dane Designer Men's Fashion	Fabric Sewing, Quilting & Knitting	Goodreads Book reviews & recommendations	IMDb Movies, TV & Celebrities

Junglee.com Shop Online in India	Kindle Direct Publishing Indie Digital Publishing Made Easy	Prime Now FREE 2-Hour Delivery on Everyday Items	Shopbop Designer Fashion Brands	Soap.com Health, Beauty & Home Essentials	TenMarks.com Math Activities for Kids & Schools

Wag.com Everything For Your Pet	Warehouse Deals Open-Box Discounts	Whispercast Discover & Distribute Digital Content	Woot! Deals and Shenanigans	Yoyo.com A Happy Place To Shop For Toys	Zappos Shoes & Clothing

Why Programs Fail: A Guide to Systematic Debugging Kindle Edition

Sorry, there was a problem.

Sorry, there was a problem.

Customers Who Viewed This Item Also Viewed

Product Details

Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

Set up an Amazon Giveaway

Look for Similar Items by Category